The state is working towards a common protocol which will allow for cross-border sting operations
The Maharashtra government is taking its fight against sex determination and female foeticide to neighbouring states. With couples choosing the relative security of states such as Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Dadra and Nagar Haveli to determine the gender of their unborn children and terminate pregnancies in case of a female foetus, the state is working on evolving a common protocol. This will allow it to conduct sting operations on medical practitioners and map out sonography and medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) centres where an unusually high number of cases from Maharashtra come in.
Dr Archana Patil, Additional Director, Health Services, said they had information about couples, especially those from border districts, going to neighbouring states for sex determination and MTP.
"We will try to evolve a common strategy and standard operating procedures (SOPs) to improve the sex ratio. This is needed to eliminate gaps in coordination when it came to a crackdown on cross-border cases," she said.
Last week, officials from Maharashtra and its neighbouring states met in Pune to brainstorm on a strategy.
"We are examining if decoy cases can be planted (sting operations) in these states to identify doctors involved sex determination and MTP centres performing female foeticide," Patil said. The team also plans to map sonography and MTP centres in districts adjoining Maharashtra. Analysis of forms with details of patients from these centres will reveal if a sonography centre caters to an inordinately high number of patients from Maharashtra, which can help in better surveillance.
Maharashtra is also considering setting up a website and a toll-free number to handle complaints from across states to ensure better sharing of data and information, said Patil. Activist Varsha Deshpande of the Lek Ladki Abhiyaan, who attended the meeting, said while couples from Maharashtra chose to visit border states, the reverse was also true. "Cross-border decoy operations are necessary," she said. Deshpande also said that while sex determination was conducted in these states, the actual abortion could be done in Maharashtra.
Cities like Bijapur, Chikodi, Indi, Gulbarga, Belgaum (Karnataka), Surat (Gujarat), Jabalpur, Burhanpur (Madhya Pradesh),
Hyderabad, Adilabad and Nizamabad (Telangana) were hubs for such activities, she said.
"Cross-border gender determination rackets are underway on a mass-scale. Vehicle load of women and their relatives are taken to nearby states at times," said activist Manisha Tokale of the Savitribai Phule Mahila Mandal in Beed, a district with one of the most adverse gender ratios. Tokale, however, stressed that a woman's right to medically terminate her pregnancy must be protected.
Advocate Uma Gangane, legal advisor, PCPNDT cell, Osmababad, noted that at times, patients go to less-qualified doctors or even quacks for sonography or sex determination. "The inter-state nature of these activities, makes it difficult today for the Maharashtra government to crackdown," she said.
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